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European LCD TV Market Booms In Q4 2004
DATE: 15th February 2005
The LCD TV market in Europe grew by a massive 75% from Q3 to Q4 2004 as seasonal trends and lower prices boosted demand for the flat screen technology. Sales of plasma TVs were also up, with more than twice the number of this type of set selling in the busy holiday sales season. With sales of larger screen sizes taking a much bigger share during the period, the amount of money that consumers spent on the latest flat TVs rose by more than 80% to $2.2 billion. They also spent nearly $2 billion on plasma TVs. The share by TV type across the six main TV-buying countries shows that shipments of non-CRT sets in Germany accounted for more than a fifth of the market by volume. In the UK, nearly one in four TVs sold was not based on the traditional tube technology. In all countries covered by Meko's DisplayCast ATV report for Q4 2004, more than 10% of TV set sales were either flat panel or rear-projection sets. "The last time we reported on the European TV market we'd been cautious in our forecast for LCD TV as it was not clear at that time just how far prices would fall", noted Pete Gamby, research director at Meko. "However, there has been sufficient movement in pricing to enable retailers to move set sales away from CRT and especially from flat CRTs to either LCD or plasma". This is the first time that set sales above 20" in size have really begun to take off with more than 35% of the LCD TV market by volume accounted for by these larger sets. "Prices for larger LCD TVs moved down far enough to attract consumers to switch", added Gamby. "In particular, shipments of 26" and 30" or 32" sets have risen dramatically. The 'wait and see' attitude that had been adopted by some consumers in anticipation of price cuts has paid off as we saw some real bargains available in Q4". What is also worth noting is that the size segmentation in the LCD TV market seems to be following that of the CRT sector. Vendors of 22" and 23" wide format LCD TVs are seeing sales dip (there is no equivalent CRT set size) whilst sales of 20" (equivalent to a 21" 4:3 CRT), 26" (equivalent to a 28" 16:9 CRT) and 30"/32" LCDs are booming. "The final battle ground will be which set size wins in the 30"/32" sector. Initial indications are that 32" sets are favoured by both vendors and consumers", notes Gamby. With prices for 42" plasma sets also falling rapidly, there has not been much opportunity for LCD TV makers to significantly grow sales of 40" and larger sets. Shipments of this size of LCD TV barely reached 2,500 units for the whole of Europe whilst shipments of plasma sets of the same size approached 0.4m units. "For the first time we've seen 42" plasma TVs priced below $2,000 and in some cases as low as $1,700. This means that for a TV buyer in the UK, for example, an entry level plasma TV can cost under £1,200 including VAT and for a buyer in Germany sets are priced at around €1,800 including tax", commented Gamby. Total TV shipments to the top four regions (France, Germany, Italy and the UK) were all in excess of 1.3m units with the UK being the largest single country market for Q4 2004 at more than 1.6m units. Overall, shipments were up by 25% compared to Q3 with the majority of the growth coming from France, the UK and Italy where sales rose by more than 30% in each country. Philips led the market in volume terms this time on the back of 80% quarter on quarter unit growth with Samsung second ahead of Sony. With competition increasing, the one-time dominant market leader, Sharp, has seen its share decline from over 25% in Q3 to less than 12% this time. --- ends --- Notes to Editors: For more information about Meko and DisplayCast please contact Pete Gamby E-mail: peteg@meko.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1276 22677 If you would like to receive press releases from Meko as soon as they are available, please send a blank email to: ListServer@meko.co.uk, with the subject line 'Subscribe MekoNews'. |